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The Wild Wynchesters #2
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower
As a master of disguise, Thomasina Wynchester can be a polite young lady—or a bawdy old man. Anything to solve the case. Her latest assignment unveils a top-secret military cipher covering up an enigma that goes back centuries. But when Tommy’s beautiful new client turns out to be the highborn lady she’s secretly smitten with, more than her mission is at stake...
Bluestocking Miss Philippa York doesn’t believe in love. Her cold heart didn't pitter-patter when she was betrothed to a duke, nor did it break when he married someone else. All Philippa desires is to rescue her priceless manuscript and decode its clues to unmask a villain. She hates that she needs a man's help—so she’s delighted to discover the clever, charming baron at her side is in fact a woman. Her cold heart... did it just pitter-patter?
Bluestocking Miss Philippa York doesn’t believe in love. Her cold heart didn't pitter-patter when she was betrothed to a duke, nor did it break when he married someone else. All Philippa desires is to rescue her priceless manuscript and decode its clues to unmask a villain. She hates that she needs a man's help—so she’s delighted to discover the clever, charming baron at her side is in fact a woman. Her cold heart... did it just pitter-patter?
346 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 26, 2021
319 people are currently reading
11706 people want to read
About the author
Erica Ridley
129 books2,195 followersGet freebies and 99¢ deals at: https://ridley.vip
Erica Ridley is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of historical romance novels, including THE DUKE HEIST, featuring the Wild Wynchesters. Why seduce a duke the normal way, when you can accidentally kidnap one in an elaborately planned heist?
In the 12 Dukes of Christmas series, enjoy witty, heartwarming Regency romps nestled in a picturesque snow-covered village. After all, nothing heats up a winter night quite like finding oneself in the arms of a duke!
Two popular series, the Dukes of War and Rogues to Riches, feature roguish peers and dashing war heroes who find love amongst the splendor and madness of Regency England.
When not reading or writing romances, Erica can be found eating couscous in Morocco, zip-lining through rainforests in Costa Rica, or getting hopelessly lost in the middle of Budapest.
Erica Ridley is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of historical romance novels, including THE DUKE HEIST, featuring the Wild Wynchesters. Why seduce a duke the normal way, when you can accidentally kidnap one in an elaborately planned heist?
In the 12 Dukes of Christmas series, enjoy witty, heartwarming Regency romps nestled in a picturesque snow-covered village. After all, nothing heats up a winter night quite like finding oneself in the arms of a duke!
Two popular series, the Dukes of War and Rogues to Riches, feature roguish peers and dashing war heroes who find love amongst the splendor and madness of Regency England.
When not reading or writing romances, Erica can be found eating couscous in Morocco, zip-lining through rainforests in Costa Rica, or getting hopelessly lost in the middle of Budapest.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,192 reviews
October 28, 2021
4.25 Stars. This was a really cute, historical-fiction romance. I’m a big fan of queer Regency romances so I was happy that this was as fun as I hoped. It had a great cast of characters, a strong romance, and a fun side story that kept me turning the pages. While this is the second book in the series, I did not read the first book and I don’t feel like I missed anything. Ridley fills in the few holes that I needed to know so it really is fine if you start here.
I really liked that this was a female/non-binary romance. Tommy, -pronoun her- is a master of disguise and enjoys playing the role or both men and women. The other main is Philippa, a highborn Lady, who would rather read her books than be shopped around for a husband. When Tommy and her family are asked to help one of Philippa’s friends, Philippa wants in on all the scheming too. The more her and Tommy are together the more feels start to develop, but everyone knows Philippa must marry a man with a title so how could they ever actually be together?
The characters are very enjoyable and I liked Tommy’s whole family. Her sword swinging sister Elizabeth especially was a really fun secondary character. While I have a feeling that this book would be the only queer romance of the series, I would still consider reading Elizabeth’s story. The main characters were great, with the one exception that I thought Tommy got a little whinny near the end. While this is a HEA romance, I wasn’t completely crazy about how the actual ending happened, as it didn’t seem as in tune with the time period and I felt like everything fell on one characters shoulders instead of more compromise. But besides that one issue, I really thought all the characters were well done.
The romance itself is very well written and enjoyable. I would not call it slow burn or insta love, instead it had a good medium pace. The chemistry really builds up nicely between the characters and the sex scenes themselves were well done and feel very passionate which is what one wants in a Regency romance. This book also has a bit of a heist feel as Tommy’s family are trying to take down a bad-guy so you had a good balance between the romance and the bit of heist fun.
Lastly, I do have to mention, like Leah did in her review, that the cover does not fit the characters. Philippa, is described as having beautiful curves and Tommy is the most comfortable in trousers and a plain shirt. It just does not feel like a true representation of the characters to me –even though it is a nice cover.
TLDR: This was a super cute, yet steamy, Regency romance. The whole cast of characters are great and the book is very fun to read. There is a small heist element to give the book a little excitement, and a chemistry filled romance to take up the rest of the pages. I would easily recommend this to historical-fiction romance fans and queer Regency romance fans.
A copy was given to me for a review.
I really liked that this was a female/non-binary romance. Tommy, -pronoun her- is a master of disguise and enjoys playing the role or both men and women. The other main is Philippa, a highborn Lady, who would rather read her books than be shopped around for a husband. When Tommy and her family are asked to help one of Philippa’s friends, Philippa wants in on all the scheming too. The more her and Tommy are together the more feels start to develop, but everyone knows Philippa must marry a man with a title so how could they ever actually be together?
The characters are very enjoyable and I liked Tommy’s whole family. Her sword swinging sister Elizabeth especially was a really fun secondary character. While I have a feeling that this book would be the only queer romance of the series, I would still consider reading Elizabeth’s story. The main characters were great, with the one exception that I thought Tommy got a little whinny near the end. While this is a HEA romance, I wasn’t completely crazy about how the actual ending happened, as it didn’t seem as in tune with the time period and I felt like everything fell on one characters shoulders instead of more compromise. But besides that one issue, I really thought all the characters were well done.
The romance itself is very well written and enjoyable. I would not call it slow burn or insta love, instead it had a good medium pace. The chemistry really builds up nicely between the characters and the sex scenes themselves were well done and feel very passionate which is what one wants in a Regency romance. This book also has a bit of a heist feel as Tommy’s family are trying to take down a bad-guy so you had a good balance between the romance and the bit of heist fun.
Lastly, I do have to mention, like Leah did in her review, that the cover does not fit the characters. Philippa, is described as having beautiful curves and Tommy is the most comfortable in trousers and a plain shirt. It just does not feel like a true representation of the characters to me –even though it is a nice cover.
TLDR: This was a super cute, yet steamy, Regency romance. The whole cast of characters are great and the book is very fun to read. There is a small heist element to give the book a little excitement, and a chemistry filled romance to take up the rest of the pages. I would easily recommend this to historical-fiction romance fans and queer Regency romance fans.
A copy was given to me for a review.
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January 3, 2022Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: I share a publisher with this author but have no direct contact
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
I’m conflicted about this book in very complicated ways that I kind of wish I’d seen more discussion of.
But first let me say what’s what: this is a fairly light queer rom between a bluestocking and a … actually I don’t quite know what. I’m missing a little context because this is the second book in a series but as far as I could work out Thomasina ‘Tommy’ Wynchester was basically plucked out of an orphanage by that dude from The Umbrella Academy and trained to right wrongs and fight to justice alongside her chosen siblings. Only less psychotic and with fewer talking monkeys? The book is mostly a sweet slow burn romance, alongside a “bringing a bad man to justice for stealing his niece’s work ps there were lesbians in history” arc. The main conflict is Philippa’s mother (Philippa is the bluestocking) being determined she marry well in order to advance the family, and Philippa—despite having not previously experienced attraction towards men at all—feeling unable to defy either society or her parent’s expectations to be with Tommy.
It’s genuinely a charming read, with likeable characters, solid bants, and believable chemistry between the leads. Philippa, in particular, I enjoyed a lot: her internal (and sometimes her external) voice is very sardonic, which makes her a pleasure to spend time with. Tommy, in all honesty, feels somewhat less successfully articulated: the plot mostly centres on her “master/mistress of disguise” deal, which is super entertaining, but by the time we got the end of the book and Tommy was insisting on her right to be loved for herself, not the people she temporarily pretends to be, I found I didn’t actually have much sense who the “real” Tommy was. I mean, beyond the crush on Philippa that initially rendered her too tongue-tied to talk to her.
I also struggled a bit with what felt like tonal inconsistencies, especially as regards Philippa’s parents. Her mum and dad are basically the Bennets, with her mother obsessively focused on Philippa’s marital prospects, and her father an emotionally absent figure behind a newspaper. I think the book wanted us to view both of them with a nuanced eye—for example, there’s a scene where Philippa’s mother actually explains why she’s pushing Philippa towards a particular man, and it is very embedded in a commitment to Phillipa’s wellbeing—but they’re also kind of. Um. Borderline abusive? Like Philippa’s mother denies her access to books and cuts her off from her support group until she’s engaged which, um. That’s a genuine relationship red flag regardless of who it’s coming from. And her father refuses to intervene until the very end where he puts down his newspaper for two seconds to be on Philippa’s side, making me wonder why the living fuck he didn’t do that earlier, and leading Philippa to reflect that “he did not have time for her, but he cared about her […] loved her.” And, like, no? The man has been passively complicit in his wife’s abusive treatment of his daughter, and I don’t know how you can claim to care about someone while having no time for them.
Oddly enough, this little segment made me think of a line from a Scarlet Peckham I read semi-recently which is: “love is a system of behaviours.” So, yeah, I don’t really buy the “I love you but I don’t actually give two shits about the way your life might be hurting you” angle here. And while you can’t drink tepid lemonade in a Regency without running into an abusive parent or two, I think what made it difficult here was the fact the book and I seemed to have very different takes on what was going on with Philippa’s parents. This made the sections were the text invited us to view them more sympathetically feel like apologia. And it was honestly just hard to process this quite horrible family dynamic in general given the overall lightness of the book, and the fact many of these scenes are played for comedy.
But to return to the original source of my conflicted feelings. Basically, my understanding from the marketing and the cover art and the way people have spoken to me about this book … I. Um. Like, it’s been described to me variously as sapphic, wlw, and/or f/f. All of which are honestly complicated labels to apply to this particular book and raise equally complicated questions about how we define ourselves in relation to both gender identity and sexuality, and how we talk about those things in respect to fictional characters.
Obviously, this is set in the Regency so useful 21st century terms are not available to any of the characters in order to define themselves but:
1. Philippa speaks of experiencing no attraction to men but she also speaks of experiencing no attraction to women, despite being aware that sapphic women do and can exist (for example she wonders explicitly if Tommy is a lesbian at one point, and let's skate past the fact that 'lesbian' wasn't used as a descriptor for wlw until the 1890s). She only starts to become attracted to Tommy when they develop a flirtatious, friendly relationship and she learns the truth about Tommy’s gender identity (although this she couches this in terms of Tommy’s honesty, rather than being like “oh yay, you are female-bodied”): this to me strongly implies Philippa is demisexual, and potentially bi-romantic (although, in practice, she only feels romantically attracted to Tommy).
2. Tommy speaks exclusively of sexual attraction to women: so she’s gay/lesbian/exclusively homosexual.
3. Philippa is a cis woman
4. Tommy is … well. Tommy uses she/her pronouns (which is fine, btw, even fictional people can use whatever pronouns they damn well please), uses multiple disguises across different gender and age categories, but describes herself thusly: “She might not feel like a woman, but she was one, physically” and “Sometimes I’m more like a man, and sometimes I’m more like a woman, but mostly I feel like … both. And neither” and later in the same scene “I’ve always been more comfortable in men’s attire.” So she’s … somewhere along the nonbinary spectrum then?
I should also say before I continue that I don’t really have standing to talk about the representation itself here: I don’t get to judge, but it seemed fine to me? I liked both Tommy and Philippa, and believed in who they were, and their love for each other. But I do come a little unstuck around the presentation of Tommy’s gender identity. Now, don’t get me wrong, there isn’t a right and wrong when it comes to being nonbinary, it’s a spectrum for a reason, and actually I do know some nonbinary people who (regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth) identity strongly with femininity and womanhood. And that’s, y’know, that’s coolbeans. None of my business. But I think what comes through quite clearly from Tommy is that that she *doesn’t* particularly identify with womanhood or femininity: she’s described as preferring men’s attire and as not “feeling” like a woman. Again, this is fine. It’s Tommy’s identity. She can shape it however she wishes.
But this is precisely why it’s worth thinking about how we talk about and market books with characters like Tommy. Because while I’m sure there plenty of nonbinary people for whom categorising The Perks of Loving of Wallflower as wlw, sapphic or f/f would feel inclusive and reflective of their experiences, there are certainly others for whom it might come across as erasing. Particularly when we consider the ways Tommy articulates her nonbinary identity within the book itself.
Some of this, I think, also comes down to a certain amount of wooliness in the discourse around what ‘sapphic’ encompasses. The most widely accepted meaning, I think, is something like: women experiencing attraction towards other women. But I’ve also seen it applied to nonbinary frameworks: i.e. used to describe those who are attracted to what is sometimes called women(+), meaning women and women-aligned identities, or for a way for nonbinary people to describe their attraction to women or women(+). And I am definitely not here to criticise the discourse: I think language should, ideally, be inclusive rather than exclusive. But while I think it might be reasonable for Tommy to identify her desire for Philippa as “sapphic” (on the grounds that she is a nonbinary person who primarily experiences attraction to women) there may be, for some people, something a little uncomfortable in Philippa categorising her desire for Tommy in such terms, because it has the potential to feel like she’s treating Tommy’s nonbinary identity as if she’s a woman or more closely aligned to woman(+) when Tommy specifically doesn’t see herself this way.
All of contributes to what may very well have been an entirely unintentional implication that Philippa, the book, and the packaging of the book see Tommy’s nonbinary identity as some sort of sub-category of being a woman. And don’t get me wrong, this may well be true for *some* nonbinary people, but for others it may be deeply problematic and it definitely doesn’t seem true for Tommy. And I honestly can’t tell—and maybe it’s for the best that I can’t tell—if this was some unresolved issue at the heart of the book or a miscommunication around its packaging. Or even something more abstract still like the sales team not being sure how to talk about nonbinary identity to booksellers and finding wlw a more marketable alternative.
I mean, in this context even that gorgeous cover is kind of heart-breaking. Because, holy shit, is it time for queer histroms to have proper photoshoots instead of half-arsed photoshop jobs that turn queer intimacy into some kind of Frankenstein’s monster of misplaced hands and swapped-over heads. I love this cover with all my heart. It’s just … not the cover for *this* book. That is a cover for a book about two conventionally attractive cis lesbians. The Perks of Loving A Wallflower is a book about a curvaceous bluestocking and a nonbinary person with short hair who prefers to dress in male attire. And it kind of sucks that’s a pairing we still feel a need to disguise rather than celebrate.
Relevant disclaimers: I share a publisher with this author but have no direct contact
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
I’m conflicted about this book in very complicated ways that I kind of wish I’d seen more discussion of.
But first let me say what’s what: this is a fairly light queer rom between a bluestocking and a … actually I don’t quite know what. I’m missing a little context because this is the second book in a series but as far as I could work out Thomasina ‘Tommy’ Wynchester was basically plucked out of an orphanage by that dude from The Umbrella Academy and trained to right wrongs and fight to justice alongside her chosen siblings. Only less psychotic and with fewer talking monkeys? The book is mostly a sweet slow burn romance, alongside a “bringing a bad man to justice for stealing his niece’s work ps there were lesbians in history” arc. The main conflict is Philippa’s mother (Philippa is the bluestocking) being determined she marry well in order to advance the family, and Philippa—despite having not previously experienced attraction towards men at all—feeling unable to defy either society or her parent’s expectations to be with Tommy.
It’s genuinely a charming read, with likeable characters, solid bants, and believable chemistry between the leads. Philippa, in particular, I enjoyed a lot: her internal (and sometimes her external) voice is very sardonic, which makes her a pleasure to spend time with. Tommy, in all honesty, feels somewhat less successfully articulated: the plot mostly centres on her “master/mistress of disguise” deal, which is super entertaining, but by the time we got the end of the book and Tommy was insisting on her right to be loved for herself, not the people she temporarily pretends to be, I found I didn’t actually have much sense who the “real” Tommy was. I mean, beyond the crush on Philippa that initially rendered her too tongue-tied to talk to her.
I also struggled a bit with what felt like tonal inconsistencies, especially as regards Philippa’s parents. Her mum and dad are basically the Bennets, with her mother obsessively focused on Philippa’s marital prospects, and her father an emotionally absent figure behind a newspaper. I think the book wanted us to view both of them with a nuanced eye—for example, there’s a scene where Philippa’s mother actually explains why she’s pushing Philippa towards a particular man, and it is very embedded in a commitment to Phillipa’s wellbeing—but they’re also kind of. Um. Borderline abusive? Like Philippa’s mother denies her access to books and cuts her off from her support group until she’s engaged which, um. That’s a genuine relationship red flag regardless of who it’s coming from. And her father refuses to intervene until the very end where he puts down his newspaper for two seconds to be on Philippa’s side, making me wonder why the living fuck he didn’t do that earlier, and leading Philippa to reflect that “he did not have time for her, but he cared about her […] loved her.” And, like, no? The man has been passively complicit in his wife’s abusive treatment of his daughter, and I don’t know how you can claim to care about someone while having no time for them.
Oddly enough, this little segment made me think of a line from a Scarlet Peckham I read semi-recently which is: “love is a system of behaviours.” So, yeah, I don’t really buy the “I love you but I don’t actually give two shits about the way your life might be hurting you” angle here. And while you can’t drink tepid lemonade in a Regency without running into an abusive parent or two, I think what made it difficult here was the fact the book and I seemed to have very different takes on what was going on with Philippa’s parents. This made the sections were the text invited us to view them more sympathetically feel like apologia. And it was honestly just hard to process this quite horrible family dynamic in general given the overall lightness of the book, and the fact many of these scenes are played for comedy.
But to return to the original source of my conflicted feelings. Basically, my understanding from the marketing and the cover art and the way people have spoken to me about this book … I. Um. Like, it’s been described to me variously as sapphic, wlw, and/or f/f. All of which are honestly complicated labels to apply to this particular book and raise equally complicated questions about how we define ourselves in relation to both gender identity and sexuality, and how we talk about those things in respect to fictional characters.
Obviously, this is set in the Regency so useful 21st century terms are not available to any of the characters in order to define themselves but:
1. Philippa speaks of experiencing no attraction to men but she also speaks of experiencing no attraction to women, despite being aware that sapphic women do and can exist (for example she wonders explicitly if Tommy is a lesbian at one point, and let's skate past the fact that 'lesbian' wasn't used as a descriptor for wlw until the 1890s). She only starts to become attracted to Tommy when they develop a flirtatious, friendly relationship and she learns the truth about Tommy’s gender identity (although this she couches this in terms of Tommy’s honesty, rather than being like “oh yay, you are female-bodied”): this to me strongly implies Philippa is demisexual, and potentially bi-romantic (although, in practice, she only feels romantically attracted to Tommy).
2. Tommy speaks exclusively of sexual attraction to women: so she’s gay/lesbian/exclusively homosexual.
3. Philippa is a cis woman
4. Tommy is … well. Tommy uses she/her pronouns (which is fine, btw, even fictional people can use whatever pronouns they damn well please), uses multiple disguises across different gender and age categories, but describes herself thusly: “She might not feel like a woman, but she was one, physically” and “Sometimes I’m more like a man, and sometimes I’m more like a woman, but mostly I feel like … both. And neither” and later in the same scene “I’ve always been more comfortable in men’s attire.” So she’s … somewhere along the nonbinary spectrum then?
I should also say before I continue that I don’t really have standing to talk about the representation itself here: I don’t get to judge, but it seemed fine to me? I liked both Tommy and Philippa, and believed in who they were, and their love for each other. But I do come a little unstuck around the presentation of Tommy’s gender identity. Now, don’t get me wrong, there isn’t a right and wrong when it comes to being nonbinary, it’s a spectrum for a reason, and actually I do know some nonbinary people who (regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth) identity strongly with femininity and womanhood. And that’s, y’know, that’s coolbeans. None of my business. But I think what comes through quite clearly from Tommy is that that she *doesn’t* particularly identify with womanhood or femininity: she’s described as preferring men’s attire and as not “feeling” like a woman. Again, this is fine. It’s Tommy’s identity. She can shape it however she wishes.
But this is precisely why it’s worth thinking about how we talk about and market books with characters like Tommy. Because while I’m sure there plenty of nonbinary people for whom categorising The Perks of Loving of Wallflower as wlw, sapphic or f/f would feel inclusive and reflective of their experiences, there are certainly others for whom it might come across as erasing. Particularly when we consider the ways Tommy articulates her nonbinary identity within the book itself.
Some of this, I think, also comes down to a certain amount of wooliness in the discourse around what ‘sapphic’ encompasses. The most widely accepted meaning, I think, is something like: women experiencing attraction towards other women. But I’ve also seen it applied to nonbinary frameworks: i.e. used to describe those who are attracted to what is sometimes called women(+), meaning women and women-aligned identities, or for a way for nonbinary people to describe their attraction to women or women(+). And I am definitely not here to criticise the discourse: I think language should, ideally, be inclusive rather than exclusive. But while I think it might be reasonable for Tommy to identify her desire for Philippa as “sapphic” (on the grounds that she is a nonbinary person who primarily experiences attraction to women) there may be, for some people, something a little uncomfortable in Philippa categorising her desire for Tommy in such terms, because it has the potential to feel like she’s treating Tommy’s nonbinary identity as if she’s a woman or more closely aligned to woman(+) when Tommy specifically doesn’t see herself this way.
All of contributes to what may very well have been an entirely unintentional implication that Philippa, the book, and the packaging of the book see Tommy’s nonbinary identity as some sort of sub-category of being a woman. And don’t get me wrong, this may well be true for *some* nonbinary people, but for others it may be deeply problematic and it definitely doesn’t seem true for Tommy. And I honestly can’t tell—and maybe it’s for the best that I can’t tell—if this was some unresolved issue at the heart of the book or a miscommunication around its packaging. Or even something more abstract still like the sales team not being sure how to talk about nonbinary identity to booksellers and finding wlw a more marketable alternative.
I mean, in this context even that gorgeous cover is kind of heart-breaking. Because, holy shit, is it time for queer histroms to have proper photoshoots instead of half-arsed photoshop jobs that turn queer intimacy into some kind of Frankenstein’s monster of misplaced hands and swapped-over heads. I love this cover with all my heart. It’s just … not the cover for *this* book. That is a cover for a book about two conventionally attractive cis lesbians. The Perks of Loving A Wallflower is a book about a curvaceous bluestocking and a nonbinary person with short hair who prefers to dress in male attire. And it kind of sucks that’s a pairing we still feel a need to disguise rather than celebrate.
November 29, 2021
This was such an amazing f/f historical romance!! I loved Tommy and Philippa together
November 7, 2021
*4.25 stars*
Erica Ridley outdid herself with this Sapphic historical romance. I couldn't get enough of Tommy and Phillipa, and I think that Erica Ridley should switch to writing *all* queer books (just saying... please....).
If I had to classify this book, I'd say it was a F/NB romance as Tommy doesn't really identify as male or female, though uses she/her pronouns. I wish SO HARD that the cover models would have reflected these characters more closely. Phillipa is plumper and bustier, and Tommy has shorter hair and prefers trousers and comfortable clothes. However, the cover is admittedly beautiful, even though it doesn't represent these lovely characters at all.
I think it helps if you'd read the first book in The Wild Wynchesters series, though it isn't a requirement. It gives some background information on the Wynchester family, and I think it helps readers to understand the dynamics there. I appreciated my background knowledge of Tommy, and I think it helped me understand both MCs much better.
Erica Ridley really wrote her pants off with this series. Sometimes, this author writes tame, less descriptive romances, but here we get complicated, multi-dimensional characters and some deliciously steamy love scenes, and I ATE IT UP. I really enjoyed how Tommy and Phillipa's relationship had no easy solutions, and that everything was hard-fought and more complex than it seemed. I enjoyed the slow-burn of them together, and I liked how Phillipa slowly realized her sexuality (which may fall on the asexual spectrum- like demi).
Tommy's personality really shone for me. She was so confident and so bold, but really, underneath, she was a brave former orphan who was terrified to put her heart out there. I loved Tommy, and I was excited for her to have Phillipa return her feelings, even if it took a bit longer for Phillipa to get there.
My one complaint about this book is that the plot gets a bit convoluted in the middle and towards the end (and the cover of the book, natch), but the rest of the book was so wonderful that I was able to overlook any minor plot and pacing issues.
Erica Ridley, I'm so happy with this series, you don't even know. I hope we get more queer characters (more queer Wynchesters?!?!) from this author, and more of this same, high quality romances.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
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Erica Ridley outdid herself with this Sapphic historical romance. I couldn't get enough of Tommy and Phillipa, and I think that Erica Ridley should switch to writing *all* queer books (just saying... please....).
If I had to classify this book, I'd say it was a F/NB romance as Tommy doesn't really identify as male or female, though uses she/her pronouns. I wish SO HARD that the cover models would have reflected these characters more closely. Phillipa is plumper and bustier, and Tommy has shorter hair and prefers trousers and comfortable clothes. However, the cover is admittedly beautiful, even though it doesn't represent these lovely characters at all.
I think it helps if you'd read the first book in The Wild Wynchesters series, though it isn't a requirement. It gives some background information on the Wynchester family, and I think it helps readers to understand the dynamics there. I appreciated my background knowledge of Tommy, and I think it helped me understand both MCs much better.
Erica Ridley really wrote her pants off with this series. Sometimes, this author writes tame, less descriptive romances, but here we get complicated, multi-dimensional characters and some deliciously steamy love scenes, and I ATE IT UP. I really enjoyed how Tommy and Phillipa's relationship had no easy solutions, and that everything was hard-fought and more complex than it seemed. I enjoyed the slow-burn of them together, and I liked how Phillipa slowly realized her sexuality (which may fall on the asexual spectrum- like demi).
Tommy's personality really shone for me. She was so confident and so bold, but really, underneath, she was a brave former orphan who was terrified to put her heart out there. I loved Tommy, and I was excited for her to have Phillipa return her feelings, even if it took a bit longer for Phillipa to get there.
My one complaint about this book is that the plot gets a bit convoluted in the middle and towards the end (and the cover of the book, natch), but the rest of the book was so wonderful that I was able to overlook any minor plot and pacing issues.
Erica Ridley, I'm so happy with this series, you don't even know. I hope we get more queer characters (more queer Wynchesters?!?!) from this author, and more of this same, high quality romances.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
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December 13, 2021
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I adored this book and could not get enough of Tommy and Philippa. I loved how Tommy was smitten with Philippa and was so nervous to even talk to her. Tommy meets her as the Baron and I loved their adorable conversations! Tommy doesn't keep her identity from Philippa for long, which I really appreciated. Philippa, though, is constantly being pressured by her mother to find a good match, even though she's never been attracted to any of the men who have courted her. I loved Tommy and Philippa's conversation and how they grew closer. Then, Philippa found a family with Tommy's family and it was so adorable. I seriously cannot gush about this book enough! Everything was perfect. The discussion at the end of how they could be together was so heartbreaking and real and I just loved how they really talked and listened to one another. I already can't wait for the next book!!
January 21, 2022
maybe more like 4.5
absolutely adored ! frilly lacy adorable plus size blonde femme (again, lesbian and thus correct usage of the word femme here) with overbearing social climbing parents x gender queer orphan actor with large scamming found family… slayed. loved the mystery portion of the story, the family relationships, the tension- obsessed. Cant believe I finally found a regency romance ft. lesbians that was actually engaging and memorable to me
absolutely adored ! frilly lacy adorable plus size blonde femme (again, lesbian and thus correct usage of the word femme here) with overbearing social climbing parents x gender queer orphan actor with large scamming found family… slayed. loved the mystery portion of the story, the family relationships, the tension- obsessed. Cant believe I finally found a regency romance ft. lesbians that was actually engaging and memorable to me
September 24, 2021
I love this book with my entire heart. Three times over.
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is a f/nb sapphic Regency romance. Tommy is a master of disguise and wants to be loved for who she is, not the roles she plays. Phillipa has never been interested in guys but her parents are pressuring her to marry a titled man for political gain. When they meet to help a friend, with Tommy in character as Baron Vanderbean, sparks threaten to fly.
The amazing:
- We have a caper - one of Phillipa's friends came up with a cypher that her uncle stole, claimed as his own, and is now receiving a viscountcy for. The Wynchesters won't let that stand and are ready to "borrow" whatever proof necessary to correct the record.
- It's not instalove, and not a slow burn in the usual sense. The flame stays low due to the era and circumstance, but once a bed is introduced watch out!
- The difficulties queer folx faced in the Regency are not overlooked. How did sapphics find each other? What were their options when women were rarely allowed to have legal property? All discussed, along with the idea that sapphics have been around for much longer than society likes to acknowledge.
- The banter is laugh out loud funny, with many of the Wynchesters providing bon mots that made me cackle.
- There are earnest sections, too, about being the protagonist of your own life, being loved unconditionally for who you are, and justice for those who are overlooked by history.
- Tommy a nonbinary rake. We watch her cut a swath through a packed ballroom, leaving every woman - eligible, spoken-for, married - in a puddle at her feet. (I am also in that puddle.)
- While there are secrets they aren't kept long because hey, these are adults who communicate! And who don't want to deceive the person they're interested in! Imagine that! I get annoyed when books base a plot on the keeping or outing of a single secret, so this respectful communication is just my thing.
- We have a full exploration of how family is not an obligation. If you're an adult there's no rule that says you have to stay in contact with your parents because they're responsible for your birth. If someone isn't looking out for your well being, you have every right to cut them out of your life if you want.
- Needless to say found family is the foundation of this series and the Wynchesters are a sterling example of the trope.
- Phillipa and Tommy's relationship speaks to my heart and reminds me how important it is to be loved for who you are, that we deserve that respect, and we owe it to ourselves to ask for it.
4.5 stars rounded up because I fully expect The Perks of Loving a Wallflower to reach five on a reread. It's an easy rec for any fan of romance.
Thanks to Forever and Netgalley for providing a review copy.
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is a f/nb sapphic Regency romance. Tommy is a master of disguise and wants to be loved for who she is, not the roles she plays. Phillipa has never been interested in guys but her parents are pressuring her to marry a titled man for political gain. When they meet to help a friend, with Tommy in character as Baron Vanderbean, sparks threaten to fly.
The amazing:
- We have a caper - one of Phillipa's friends came up with a cypher that her uncle stole, claimed as his own, and is now receiving a viscountcy for. The Wynchesters won't let that stand and are ready to "borrow" whatever proof necessary to correct the record.
- It's not instalove, and not a slow burn in the usual sense. The flame stays low due to the era and circumstance, but once a bed is introduced watch out!
- The difficulties queer folx faced in the Regency are not overlooked. How did sapphics find each other? What were their options when women were rarely allowed to have legal property? All discussed, along with the idea that sapphics have been around for much longer than society likes to acknowledge.
- The banter is laugh out loud funny, with many of the Wynchesters providing bon mots that made me cackle.
- There are earnest sections, too, about being the protagonist of your own life, being loved unconditionally for who you are, and justice for those who are overlooked by history.
- Tommy a nonbinary rake. We watch her cut a swath through a packed ballroom, leaving every woman - eligible, spoken-for, married - in a puddle at her feet. (I am also in that puddle.)
- While there are secrets they aren't kept long because hey, these are adults who communicate! And who don't want to deceive the person they're interested in! Imagine that! I get annoyed when books base a plot on the keeping or outing of a single secret, so this respectful communication is just my thing.
- We have a full exploration of how family is not an obligation. If you're an adult there's no rule that says you have to stay in contact with your parents because they're responsible for your birth. If someone isn't looking out for your well being, you have every right to cut them out of your life if you want.
- Needless to say found family is the foundation of this series and the Wynchesters are a sterling example of the trope.
- Phillipa and Tommy's relationship speaks to my heart and reminds me how important it is to be loved for who you are, that we deserve that respect, and we owe it to ourselves to ask for it.
4.5 stars rounded up because I fully expect The Perks of Loving a Wallflower to reach five on a reread. It's an easy rec for any fan of romance.
Thanks to Forever and Netgalley for providing a review copy.
December 10, 2021
4.5 Stars
This was a completely delightful sapphic f/nb historical romance.
Philippa York is a highborn, bluestocking lady who is happiest surrounded by her books and her weekly reading group. When a member of her group’s work is stolen, she gets help from the Wynchester family in righting the wrongs against her friend. Tommy Wynchester works with her adopted siblings against social injustices. They each have a job to do and Tommy’s talent is becoming whoever she needs to be to get the job done regardless of age or gender.
Philippa’s mother is trying to marry her off to a member of the ton to raise their ranking so they use Tommy’s disguise as Baron Vanderbean to pacify her mother and to pass along information on their quest. Tommy is non-binary and feels like both a man and woman or neither. She’s had a long-lasting crush on Philippa and uses her time as the baron to get closer to her in a way that’s allowed.
It’s described as a romp and I have to agree with that description. It’s got some very light-hearted and over the top moments that had me laughing out loud. Philippa and Tommy are silly together and have ongoing conversations like what their horses read and the languages they speak. It was charming and their chemistry was off the charts. I loved how obvious it was that these two are meant to be, even if they don’t see a way for it to happen. This is filled with pining and yearning and is done so well that I wanted to read this in one sitting to get to the payoff as quickly as I could.
This is the second in the ‘Wild Wynchesters’ series by Ridley but can be read as a standalone. There are mentions about the previous book that fills any holes so I never felt like I was missing anything. Tommy’s siblings all are fleshed out and they brought their own talents and personalities to the plot as they are all deeply involved in each other’s lives.
I think I really only had two complaints. Philippa’s mother is awful and has a lot of space in their story. Her personality got tedious to me after a while. Luckily, Tommy and Philippa were worth it. The other complaint is the cover. While it is absolutely gorgeous and I love that the models are actually married in real life, the model for Tommy just doesn’t fit. She would never be comfortable in that type of dress and she is written with much shorter hair.
All in all, I loved this and highly recommend it. I think Regency fans will also appreciate the details Ridley uses. Sadly, this looks to be her only sapphic romance but I would certainly read more of them from her.
I received an ARC from Forever/Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a completely delightful sapphic f/nb historical romance.
Philippa York is a highborn, bluestocking lady who is happiest surrounded by her books and her weekly reading group. When a member of her group’s work is stolen, she gets help from the Wynchester family in righting the wrongs against her friend. Tommy Wynchester works with her adopted siblings against social injustices. They each have a job to do and Tommy’s talent is becoming whoever she needs to be to get the job done regardless of age or gender.
Philippa’s mother is trying to marry her off to a member of the ton to raise their ranking so they use Tommy’s disguise as Baron Vanderbean to pacify her mother and to pass along information on their quest. Tommy is non-binary and feels like both a man and woman or neither. She’s had a long-lasting crush on Philippa and uses her time as the baron to get closer to her in a way that’s allowed.
It’s described as a romp and I have to agree with that description. It’s got some very light-hearted and over the top moments that had me laughing out loud. Philippa and Tommy are silly together and have ongoing conversations like what their horses read and the languages they speak. It was charming and their chemistry was off the charts. I loved how obvious it was that these two are meant to be, even if they don’t see a way for it to happen. This is filled with pining and yearning and is done so well that I wanted to read this in one sitting to get to the payoff as quickly as I could.
This is the second in the ‘Wild Wynchesters’ series by Ridley but can be read as a standalone. There are mentions about the previous book that fills any holes so I never felt like I was missing anything. Tommy’s siblings all are fleshed out and they brought their own talents and personalities to the plot as they are all deeply involved in each other’s lives.
I think I really only had two complaints. Philippa’s mother is awful and has a lot of space in their story. Her personality got tedious to me after a while. Luckily, Tommy and Philippa were worth it. The other complaint is the cover. While it is absolutely gorgeous and I love that the models are actually married in real life, the model for Tommy just doesn’t fit. She would never be comfortable in that type of dress and she is written with much shorter hair.
All in all, I loved this and highly recommend it. I think Regency fans will also appreciate the details Ridley uses. Sadly, this looks to be her only sapphic romance but I would certainly read more of them from her.
I received an ARC from Forever/Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 7, 2024
3.5 stars
I was excited to read this book as I read the first book The Duke Heist years ago and found Tommy to be a very intriguing character and was eager to read her book. I will say, it was harder for me to focus on the plot in this book, there was a few subplots that seemed to be mixed together and none of them got their flowers. A fraud crime, Phillipa trying not to get married off, the establishment of free libraries; all were great but I felt it might have worked better if the focus was more on just one than all.
I really loved the chemistry between Tommy and Phillipa, I love that from the moment when Tommy opened up to Phillipa she did her best not to keep secrets and didn't anguish about lying, I appreciated that a lot. I've seen comments about the author needing to establish Tommy's gender identity more firmly and I whole-heartedly disagree. I don't think we need to label people unless they wish to be and I am glad the author didn't give us labels. Tommy is unapologetically herself and I loved her for it.
This book is a three star read for me mainly because I found it hard to focus on and was easy to put down and walk away from. I still very much enjoyed it and would happily read more from Erica Ridley.
I was excited to read this book as I read the first book The Duke Heist years ago and found Tommy to be a very intriguing character and was eager to read her book. I will say, it was harder for me to focus on the plot in this book, there was a few subplots that seemed to be mixed together and none of them got their flowers. A fraud crime, Phillipa trying not to get married off, the establishment of free libraries; all were great but I felt it might have worked better if the focus was more on just one than all.
I really loved the chemistry between Tommy and Phillipa, I love that from the moment when Tommy opened up to Phillipa she did her best not to keep secrets and didn't anguish about lying, I appreciated that a lot. I've seen comments about the author needing to establish Tommy's gender identity more firmly and I whole-heartedly disagree. I don't think we need to label people unless they wish to be and I am glad the author didn't give us labels. Tommy is unapologetically herself and I loved her for it.
This book is a three star read for me mainly because I found it hard to focus on and was easy to put down and walk away from. I still very much enjoyed it and would happily read more from Erica Ridley.
May 4, 2022
This was DELIGHTFUL! The cover is a little misleading because we actually have a plus size femme heroine (Philippa) with a masc-leaning, possibly non-binary love interest (Thomasina/Tommy). So think curvy bombshell with a lean, dapper, rakish sort.
This is a bit of a slow burn, but the banter and buildup of tension are both excellent. (and we do get some steamier moments toward the end of the book!) Philippa is spinster and a bluestocking who has never been attracted to anyone (probably meant to be read as demi-sexual) but her parents want to marry her off to someone with a title. Tommy has had a crush from afar and finally gets up the nerve to pose as a gentleman to actually talk with Philippa. What's great though is she quickly tells the truth about her identity, so while everyone around them thinks Tommy is a man, it's not this ongoing deception in the romantic relationship.
There is also a sort of heist/mystery subplot and Tommy is amazing at disguises for various purposes. I won't say more but I really loved this and was fully invested in the romance. Go check it out!
This is a bit of a slow burn, but the banter and buildup of tension are both excellent. (and we do get some steamier moments toward the end of the book!) Philippa is spinster and a bluestocking who has never been attracted to anyone (probably meant to be read as demi-sexual) but her parents want to marry her off to someone with a title. Tommy has had a crush from afar and finally gets up the nerve to pose as a gentleman to actually talk with Philippa. What's great though is she quickly tells the truth about her identity, so while everyone around them thinks Tommy is a man, it's not this ongoing deception in the romantic relationship.
There is also a sort of heist/mystery subplot and Tommy is amazing at disguises for various purposes. I won't say more but I really loved this and was fully invested in the romance. Go check it out!
February 21, 2022
This is second in a series and character arcs, and even some plot elements, carry over from the first. So I definitely recommend reading in order. Indeed, Philippa had a large role in that first book and it continues here with some of the fallout from it.
So having read the first story, you're already familiar with the Wynchester family and their competence porn aspects. If not, I describe it as Regency Leverage with a stronger core of family cooperation at the heart of the team. This one focuses on Tommy, Tomasina, who is the chameleon in the family. She takes on whatever role is necessary for any given plan. She can be a buck of the ton, a dockworker, a maid, a chimneysweep, or practically anything else that she can mold her slim frame into. She has been crushing on Philippa since they met in the first book and suffering the teasing of her siblings.
And I was going to save this for a note at the end, but it fits too perfectly here to mention that Ridley's Wynchesters are very modern in their acceptance of one another. All the siblings know that Tommy is attracted to women. And they support and encourage her in those attractions. So their teasing is the supportive kind where they'd really like to see her pursuit of Philippa be successful and requited. Ridley doesn't go so far as some authors that make that a common attitude, though. So it fits relatively well as an aspect of the family rather than bending the rules of the era. Not that Ridley is terribly period-accurate. But she's better than most at anything not Wynchester-related.
Anyway, I loved how this progressed and the roles Tommy takes on. Even better, is that she can't stand lying to Philippa, so she blows her own cover fairly early, making this a story of friendship and support that drifts into love. This was fantastic and I loved seeing them connect and gain in respect and appreciation of their individual strengths and connection.
Less fun was Philippa's family. Her mother is a monster. And gauche in a way that strained credulity. I mean, she was actively angling to put Philippa in the way of a titled husband and would say as much in public forums. And constraining Philippa's study group as punishment was tolerated in a way I found jarring. Like, none of the other women would point out how manipulative and petty she was being? I mean, Philippa's mother did more to destroy the family reputation than Philippa ever came close to. The reading-group target, the guy who stole his niece's idea for fame and glory, was bad enough. That guy was cardboard so thin you could mail it air express. But the mother grated for the entire story and that was old in the first chapter.
Anyway, I'm going with four stars, the drop almost entirely due to the mother. And I'll add that I so loved that Ridley avoided the obvious resolution in the end . That was incredibly strong. Just not strong enough to overcome the mother being a high-grade irritant for all the rest of the story.
A note about LGBT: Ridley has taken a chance throwing a lesbian romance in the second spot of a romance series that started hetero. I don't know what the rest of the series will entail, but I expect at least one other will "go there" as well. And that will likely be an MM romance. I'm not sure the Venn diagram for all three romance gender configurations (FF, MF, MM) but it's narrower than any one of them on their own, I'll bet. That will make this an experiment that I'm interested in seeing play out.
A note about Steamy: There are a couple of explicit sex scenes putting this in the middle of my steam tolerance, though only just. They're well-done and do very well illuminating the relationship progression, not least with Philippa's hesitations. By the end, I wasn't quite sure if Philippa was mildly ace or if she just hadn't ever thought to look at women for attraction, but it didn't really matter because Ridley did so well making her simply herself and her love for Tommy was part of that individualism. Which worked very well for me, at any rate.
So having read the first story, you're already familiar with the Wynchester family and their competence porn aspects. If not, I describe it as Regency Leverage with a stronger core of family cooperation at the heart of the team. This one focuses on Tommy, Tomasina, who is the chameleon in the family. She takes on whatever role is necessary for any given plan. She can be a buck of the ton, a dockworker, a maid, a chimneysweep, or practically anything else that she can mold her slim frame into. She has been crushing on Philippa since they met in the first book and suffering the teasing of her siblings.
And I was going to save this for a note at the end, but it fits too perfectly here to mention that Ridley's Wynchesters are very modern in their acceptance of one another. All the siblings know that Tommy is attracted to women. And they support and encourage her in those attractions. So their teasing is the supportive kind where they'd really like to see her pursuit of Philippa be successful and requited. Ridley doesn't go so far as some authors that make that a common attitude, though. So it fits relatively well as an aspect of the family rather than bending the rules of the era. Not that Ridley is terribly period-accurate. But she's better than most at anything not Wynchester-related.
Anyway, I loved how this progressed and the roles Tommy takes on. Even better, is that she can't stand lying to Philippa, so she blows her own cover fairly early, making this a story of friendship and support that drifts into love. This was fantastic and I loved seeing them connect and gain in respect and appreciation of their individual strengths and connection.
Less fun was Philippa's family. Her mother is a monster. And gauche in a way that strained credulity. I mean, she was actively angling to put Philippa in the way of a titled husband and would say as much in public forums. And constraining Philippa's study group as punishment was tolerated in a way I found jarring. Like, none of the other women would point out how manipulative and petty she was being? I mean, Philippa's mother did more to destroy the family reputation than Philippa ever came close to. The reading-group target, the guy who stole his niece's idea for fame and glory, was bad enough. That guy was cardboard so thin you could mail it air express. But the mother grated for the entire story and that was old in the first chapter.
Anyway, I'm going with four stars, the drop almost entirely due to the mother. And I'll add that I so loved that Ridley avoided the obvious resolution in the end . That was incredibly strong. Just not strong enough to overcome the mother being a high-grade irritant for all the rest of the story.
A note about LGBT: Ridley has taken a chance throwing a lesbian romance in the second spot of a romance series that started hetero. I don't know what the rest of the series will entail, but I expect at least one other will "go there" as well. And that will likely be an MM romance. I'm not sure the Venn diagram for all three romance gender configurations (FF, MF, MM) but it's narrower than any one of them on their own, I'll bet. That will make this an experiment that I'm interested in seeing play out.
A note about Steamy: There are a couple of explicit sex scenes putting this in the middle of my steam tolerance, though only just. They're well-done and do very well illuminating the relationship progression, not least with Philippa's hesitations. By the end, I wasn't quite sure if Philippa was mildly ace or if she just hadn't ever thought to look at women for attraction, but it didn't really matter because Ridley did so well making her simply herself and her love for Tommy was part of that individualism. Which worked very well for me, at any rate.
August 28, 2025
➥ 4.5 Stars *:･ﾟ✧
What a delight! I've been on the hunt for a solid sapphic historical romance for a while (only successes had been An Island Princess Starts a Scandal & Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure) and we've found another winner! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone, that's saying something. Ridley does a great job at creating great character dynamics, found-family elements, lighthearted fun moments and realistic but sweet plot choices.
Philippa (h), a true femme, enjoys running her weekly reading circle and lacey dresses. However, her friend's work is being credited to a horrible man her parents suggest as a suitor, to improve the family's station. She must prove his fraudulence, with the help of the Winchesters: a truly lovely found family of people who take on heists and missions for the greater good. Tommy Winchester (h) enjoys disguising herself, from elderly lady to dashing suitor, and Philippa recruits her for this mission.
Although I was getting impatient during the multiple chapters that passed before they met, the pair really won me over from the second they did. Tommy is a breath of fresh air compared to the other gold digger (also called fortune hunter) suitors that did not care for Philippa's interests. Tommy makes her laugh and break free from the monotony of shallow human connection.
This is a very sweet and almost wholesome romance. It's easy to forget that these characters are not that old, maybe early twenties, so you see them be quite curious and innocent in their interests in the other. This made the romance feel very genuine and convincing.
It ticked my box of navigating formal regency obligations/society, but with the perfect romantic + queer twist. We still have tension-filled ballroom dancing, people!! And corset removal!!
Despite the wholesome sort of tone to their romance, the storyline itself allowed for moments of intrigue and excitement. The sort of fake-dating component was so entertaining, with Tommy charming the pants off all the women at the ball while in disguise. Which is not to say there wasn't some solid sensuality here. I could 100% see Tommy's crazy combination of masculine and feminine appeal.
Sorry these types of descriptions do it for me.
She's eating Philippa with her button down still on? Arched asf? Yeah.
I also liked when it was Tommy's turn to be a lil more submissive/whimpery, but I think Philippa could have stepped up a little more to topping. Obviously, they just started this lol, but Philippa is quite actually quite capable and decisive. I was surprised she wasn't eager to take initiative/control when it came to reciprocation.
Ridley also did a great job at establishing and exploring individual characters' internal struggles, and I felt they did feel true to each character. Philippa is often left out of decision-making and adventure – she wants in on the heists. Tommy, on the other hand, is used to caring for her family and yearns to be loved as herself – not the person she's disguised as. I enjoyed the exploration of this conflict, and it wasn't a face-palm, cheaply done 3rd act. It was done tactfully, with a realistic yet satisfying conclusion.
Can you believe I have only 3 critiques in total? 1) Since Philippa only really saw Tommy in disguise, it would have been nice to have some emphasis placed on her seeing Tommy without it. This is the perfect opportunity for the type of tender moment I love. To give you an example, Lee Winter is good at describing her character's uncharacteristic softness, in a moment of almost dishevelment:
I would have liked to see something like this done here. Where Philippa truly sees Tommy, notices the details of her makeup-free face, and yearns for her!! I was surprised how glossed over Tommy's disguised and non-disguised states were, especially considering the number of times we're told she's unrecognizable in disguise.
And 2) I would have liked a tad more passion/intensity/heat to their relationship once they'd gotten together. Their first time together sexually was done beautifully, imo, but like many books, reciprocation is implied rather than written (booo 🍅🍅🍅), and I didn't quite feel that sense that they... NEEDED each other, the way I like desperate HR characters to. And more heated dialogue too, there's some mentions of "You can command me/say what you want out loud -Love, Tommy" haha, but I think Erica could have developed it a little more to be something more interesting.
3) I love these traditionally historical covers (more than the cartoon ones I see Ridley has adopted for her recent releases), but I do wish the characters and outfits would have been done more accurately on the cover. Tommy is described as being taller, and having shorter brown hair if I recall. We don't see any of her typical way of dress here. And Philippa isn't wearing anything lacey! Cover artists committed to historical and textual accuracy present yourselves to HR authors please.
And a sort of bonus complaint: how can this be Erica Ridley's only sapphic book!? Give the people what they want 🙏 PLEASE. This book is more successful than the first in the series, and her second most popular book ever published. Please take note, Erica! Granted, she did publish this in 2021, but has since prioritised heterosexual romances (that is...legal, I suppose). But she's not taking advantage of a market that clearly shows up for her and her work. I've gone through some truly bad sapphic romances, and the only winners are odd ones out just like this one! Neither Courtney Milan, Adrianna Herrera nor Erica Ridley consistently write sapphic HR.
Erica...PLEASE. And Tommy...omfg consider me charmed. The end!
Philipa's face was skeptical. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "What might you know about my desires?"
Tommy made a lascivious expression and murmured, "Only that I would be happy to grant them."
━━━━━━━━━━━ ✯ ━━━━━━━━━━━
What a delight! I've been on the hunt for a solid sapphic historical romance for a while (only successes had been An Island Princess Starts a Scandal & Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure) and we've found another winner! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone, that's saying something. Ridley does a great job at creating great character dynamics, found-family elements, lighthearted fun moments and realistic but sweet plot choices.
Philippa (h), a true femme, enjoys running her weekly reading circle and lacey dresses. However, her friend's work is being credited to a horrible man her parents suggest as a suitor, to improve the family's station. She must prove his fraudulence, with the help of the Winchesters: a truly lovely found family of people who take on heists and missions for the greater good. Tommy Winchester (h) enjoys disguising herself, from elderly lady to dashing suitor, and Philippa recruits her for this mission.
Although I was getting impatient during the multiple chapters that passed before they met, the pair really won me over from the second they did. Tommy is a breath of fresh air compared to the other gold digger (also called fortune hunter) suitors that did not care for Philippa's interests. Tommy makes her laugh and break free from the monotony of shallow human connection.
"Your siblings aren’t looking,” Philippa whispered. “You can kiss me.”
“Her siblings are listening,” Graham said without lowering his broadsheet. “But don’t let that stop you.”
At Philippa’s mortified expression, Tommy kissed both sides of Philippa’s mouth, then rubbed her nose against Philippa’s. “Ignore them.”
This is a very sweet and almost wholesome romance. It's easy to forget that these characters are not that old, maybe early twenties, so you see them be quite curious and innocent in their interests in the other. This made the romance feel very genuine and convincing.
It ticked my box of navigating formal regency obligations/society, but with the perfect romantic + queer twist. We still have tension-filled ballroom dancing, people!! And corset removal!!
"And now," she said, her eyes never leaving Philippa's. "At last my gaze can fall upon the reason I breathe."
Despite the wholesome sort of tone to their romance, the storyline itself allowed for moments of intrigue and excitement. The sort of fake-dating component was so entertaining, with Tommy charming the pants off all the women at the ball while in disguise. Which is not to say there wasn't some solid sensuality here. I could 100% see Tommy's crazy combination of masculine and feminine appeal.
Tommy's smile was slow and seductive. "The bed, you said?"
Philippa nodded breathlessly. She wanted to learn everything there was to know about Tommy's body. Its silhouette against the orange firelight. The hills and valley of her breasts visible above the gapping neck of her men's shirt as she climbed atop the bed to join Philippa.
Sorry these types of descriptions do it for me.
Tommy shrugged off her frock coat and folded it over the back of an armchair. The white linen of her sleeves billowed about her arms.
"What are you doing?" Philippa stammered, her mouth suddenly dry.
"I'll put my disguise on first." Tommy loosened her cravat. One knot at a time. Slowly, she unwound the soft white material to reveal a long, graceful neck with a thrumming point at its base. Idly, as though she had not stolen Philippa's very breath, Tommy dropped the cravat atop her discarded coat.
She's eating Philippa with her button down still on? Arched asf? Yeah.
She placed her hands on Tommy's back and fisted her fingers in the soft shirt. The action caused the hem to rise, revealing the alluring shape of Tommy's buttocks. Without lifting her mouth from Philipas nipple, Tommy's fingers trailed down Philippa's abdomen, over her hip, to dug at the bottom hem of her shift.
I also liked when it was Tommy's turn to be a lil more submissive/whimpery, but I think Philippa could have stepped up a little more to topping. Obviously, they just started this lol, but Philippa is quite actually quite capable and decisive. I was surprised she wasn't eager to take initiative/control when it came to reciprocation.
Ridley also did a great job at establishing and exploring individual characters' internal struggles, and I felt they did feel true to each character. Philippa is often left out of decision-making and adventure – she wants in on the heists. Tommy, on the other hand, is used to caring for her family and yearns to be loved as herself – not the person she's disguised as. I enjoyed the exploration of this conflict, and it wasn't a face-palm, cheaply done 3rd act. It was done tactfully, with a realistic yet satisfying conclusion.
Can you believe I have only 3 critiques in total? 1) Since Philippa only really saw Tommy in disguise, it would have been nice to have some emphasis placed on her seeing Tommy without it. This is the perfect opportunity for the type of tender moment I love. To give you an example, Lee Winter is good at describing her character's uncharacteristic softness, in a moment of almost dishevelment:
Scrubbed free of make-up she looked much younger, as though the bruising weight of the world added a burden in years that she only carried in the waking hours. Her thick, auburn hair fell messily around her shoulders. Everything about her seemed softer.
The Red Files
I would have liked to see something like this done here. Where Philippa truly sees Tommy, notices the details of her makeup-free face, and yearns for her!! I was surprised how glossed over Tommy's disguised and non-disguised states were, especially considering the number of times we're told she's unrecognizable in disguise.
And 2) I would have liked a tad more passion/intensity/heat to their relationship once they'd gotten together. Their first time together sexually was done beautifully, imo, but like many books, reciprocation is implied rather than written (booo 🍅🍅🍅), and I didn't quite feel that sense that they... NEEDED each other, the way I like desperate HR characters to. And more heated dialogue too, there's some mentions of "You can command me/say what you want out loud -Love, Tommy" haha, but I think Erica could have developed it a little more to be something more interesting.
3) I love these traditionally historical covers (more than the cartoon ones I see Ridley has adopted for her recent releases), but I do wish the characters and outfits would have been done more accurately on the cover. Tommy is described as being taller, and having shorter brown hair if I recall. We don't see any of her typical way of dress here. And Philippa isn't wearing anything lacey! Cover artists committed to historical and textual accuracy present yourselves to HR authors please.
And a sort of bonus complaint: how can this be Erica Ridley's only sapphic book!? Give the people what they want 🙏 PLEASE. This book is more successful than the first in the series, and her second most popular book ever published. Please take note, Erica! Granted, she did publish this in 2021, but has since prioritised heterosexual romances (that is...legal, I suppose). But she's not taking advantage of a market that clearly shows up for her and her work. I've gone through some truly bad sapphic romances, and the only winners are odd ones out just like this one! Neither Courtney Milan, Adrianna Herrera nor Erica Ridley consistently write sapphic HR.
Erica...PLEASE. And Tommy...omfg consider me charmed. The end!
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November 14, 2022
This series is just the sweetest serotonin boost 🥰
August 1, 2022
So this book is super fun!! Philippa is a bluestocking from a wealthy family (that's not from the ton) whose weekly book club is the highlight of her existence. Unfortunately her parents are really pushing for her to marry a nobleman, and they've told her she can't have her friends over until she starts really looking! Luckily for her, one of her friends' siblings, Tommy, is happy to enter into a fake relationship with Philippa to raise her (marriage) market value. If you know romance at all, then you know that fake relationships never stay fake. In fact, Tommy's been crushing on Philippa for about a year and is using this "fake" relationship to pursue more of a "real" courtship. So Philippa's got to deal with her real feelings for her completely ineligible suitor who's ALSO not faking any feelings for Philippa. Oh and did we mention? Tommy's not a boy, so there are more issues with "ineligibility" than the traditional Regency trifecta of fortune, family, and face.
It can be really tough to get into a queer historical romance, in particular, because there's just no way for a traditional HEA. The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is hilarious, poignant, sexy, and very fun - and is a true pleasure to read.
29-Word Summaries:
Meg: Like any other debutante, Philippa needs someone to pretend-court her to get men to notice her. Unlike other debutantes, she enlists her BFF’s sister to do the job.
Laine: What's a pining lady of the ton to do for her sweetheart but masquerade as a man to court her publicly while privately seducing by taking down the patriarchy?
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
It can be really tough to get into a queer historical romance, in particular, because there's just no way for a traditional HEA. The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is hilarious, poignant, sexy, and very fun - and is a true pleasure to read.
29-Word Summaries:
Meg: Like any other debutante, Philippa needs someone to pretend-court her to get men to notice her. Unlike other debutantes, she enlists her BFF’s sister to do the job.
Laine: What's a pining lady of the ton to do for her sweetheart but masquerade as a man to court her publicly while privately seducing by taking down the patriarchy?
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
November 27, 2021
I ADORED this sweet, swoony, heartwarming Sapphic historical romance. Truly so good.
January 19, 2022
genre : sapphic historical romanceI’ve seen lots of raving reviews of this book, but what really sold me was that Moira Quirk narrated the audiobook. Can’t say no to a superb narrator, so of course I need to read it.
MCs : 26yo genderqueer person + 23yo demisexual woman
POV : dual 3rd-person
location: London
indie? : no
Tommy Wynchester (26, genderqueer) enjoys presenting herself as anyone she pleases—gender and age be damned. Bluestocking Philippa York (23, demisexual) is destined to be married off to some man with a title, but she has never felt any attraction to anyone. When Tommy dressed up as the non-existent Baron Horus Vanderbean yet quickly confided in Philippa of her true identity, their relationship begins to shift. Clueless of Tommy’s year-long crush on her, Philippa finds herself intrigued by this Wynchester who is helping her gather intel on Captain Northrope, who stole his niece Damaris’ cipher that helped won the war.
Okay, to be honest, I didn’t 100% understand the crime plot, about why proving the true authors of the illuminated manuscript and proving that Damaris invented the cipher are interconnected (the manuscript seems to be an inspiration for Damaris though). Maybe I’ll understand more once I read the first book in the series, The Duke Heist, which is also narrated by Moira Quirk.
What I love the most about The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is the Wynchesters. They reminded me of what little I know of The Umbrella Academy in the sense that both feature a team of adopted siblings (6 Wynchesters, 7 Hargreeves) fighting for justice and their reclusive mentor and father figure who recently passed. All the Wynchesters have such distinct personalities and expertises, and they are all so weird in their own adorable way that I just love them so much.
– Chloe: I didn’t learn much about her, but book one is her story.
– Tommy: Expert in roleplaying and cosmetics.
– Graham: Detective/scholar and parkour artist/stuntman.
– Jacob (Black?): Has every kind of animal you can think of. Like baby hedgehogs and scorpions.
– Elizabeth: Carries a sword stick (rapier!) everywhere and probably just wants to fight things.
– Marjorie (HoH): Forgery artist.
The romance between Tommy and Philippa was great. I felt the strong chemistry between them and it was relieving that almost everyone is supportive of them. The Wynchesters truly are the best. But I did find Philippa a bit frustrating with her very self-centered attitude, like wanting to participate in the adventures despite having zero training.
Book 3, Nobody’s Princess, is about Graham (my favorite Wynchester and the coolest boy). He’s so precious I can’t wait for him to fall for this warrior lady! I’m sure Elizabeth will grow to love her. Perhaps there will be daily swordfights after all.
Listened to the audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk. She used her Griddle voice for Tommy (yessss) and her Second House voice for Marjorie. Fingers crossed she’ll narrate the rest of the series, too.
content warnings: manipulation, comp het, misogyny, sexism, graphic sex
August 6, 2023
The cutest queer regency romance, with a focus on found family 🖤
*Level of spice is very mild. If you prefer high levels of smut, this may not be for you because it has less than average for this genre in my opinion.
*Level of spice is very mild. If you prefer high levels of smut, this may not be for you because it has less than average for this genre in my opinion.
October 20, 2021
Not a typical read for me (romance), but this was charming and so fresh. It was a quick read. Love the love in it. I mean...I love that love!! Two thumbs up!
May 23, 2022
I absolutely LOVED this sapphic Regency Romance audiobook and would love to find more like it! The story was terrific and I loved the MCs. I was pleasantly surprised that one would now be considered non-binary (that goes by the pronouns she/her) and the other a curvaceous high born beauty. While the cover image is beautiful, it doesn't represent what Thomasina "Tommy" Wynchester looks like at all - but I would imagine it would be tough to find stock photos that would represent her more androgynous look. That said, Tommy is a master of disguise and often dressed as various characters so she could be anyone she wanted to be - masculine, feminine, or somewhere in between. Bluestocking Philippa York is a brilliant, goal-driven woman determined to make a positive difference in the world, yet frustrated by the societal and parental expectations put on her.
While I've only listened to this second in the "Wild Wynchesters" series book about the Wynchester family, I enjoyed it so much I am very tempted to read the others. I generally don't read hetero romances because we are surrounded by that everywhere, but this family is so appealing that I would love to spend more time with them.
I fell in love with Moira Quirk when I listened to her narration of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and after this I'm head over heels. She's truly outstanding! While I didn't read the book before listening, I can tell you that Quirk is one of those narrators that elevates the quality of a work. There are many characters in this book and she captures each of them beautifully.
This is fun and interesting, and very woman centric. I love how author Erica Ridley maneuvered her way through the mystery they are trying to solve as well as the developing romance. And the heat factor? Yes - it's up there. Really - it's impossible not to fall in love with Tommy Wynchester.
I can't recommend this one enough!
While I've only listened to this second in the "Wild Wynchesters" series book about the Wynchester family, I enjoyed it so much I am very tempted to read the others. I generally don't read hetero romances because we are surrounded by that everywhere, but this family is so appealing that I would love to spend more time with them.
I fell in love with Moira Quirk when I listened to her narration of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and after this I'm head over heels. She's truly outstanding! While I didn't read the book before listening, I can tell you that Quirk is one of those narrators that elevates the quality of a work. There are many characters in this book and she captures each of them beautifully.
This is fun and interesting, and very woman centric. I love how author Erica Ridley maneuvered her way through the mystery they are trying to solve as well as the developing romance. And the heat factor? Yes - it's up there. Really - it's impossible not to fall in love with Tommy Wynchester.
I can't recommend this one enough!
January 15, 2022
Review of The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley, audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk
I’m not a fan of historical fiction mainly because lesbian stories based in the past normally don’t have a happy ending but I heard great things about this book (thanks, Corrie) and decided to try it.
Thomasina Wynchester is a master of disguise to help solve cases. But her new client is no other than bluestocking Miss Philippa York, a highborn lady Thomasina is secretly smitten with. Phillippa doesn’t believe in love, her parents repeatedly try to marry her to different eligible noblemen but she doesn’t develop feelings for anyone. But when the enigmatic Thomasina is assigned to solve the case of a stolen idea for a top-secret military cipher from one of Philippa’s friends, Philippa discovers that she is capable of having feelings after all.
There is a wave of new authors who are writing f/f historical romances with happy endings with the purpose of drawing attention to the fact that homosexuality has been erased from history despite that there were many cases of happy long-term relationships in the past. I’m far from being an expert in the genre but I enjoyed Olivia Waite’s books which were written with that purpose. That’s great news for readers who enjoy their happily ever afters in a historical setting.
This is book 2 in The Wlid Wynchesters series by this author which started with the m/f romance The Duke Heist. Despite there are a few references in book two to the main characters of the previous book, The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is a standalone story and there’s no need to read the m/f romance to enjoy this one.
The romance is sweet with some hot parts, both main characters are lovable even though Philippa is hard to like at the beginning. There is an aspect of gender nonconformity in Thomasina that I think the author managed well by making the character satisfied with their life choices and not willing to change for anyone’s sake. Philippa’s mother incarnates the social pressure to conform to the norm and the rigid social and class rules in the Regency period in England which sometimes feels oppressive. Philippa’s mother was an interesting, if not obnoxious, character, and my only complaint about this book is that, at the end of the book, I felt she acted out of character, her actions sounded like an easy way out of the main conflict and didn’t feel organic to the story.
This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk and I really enjoyed her performance. All her voices were distinct and reflected the character’s age, gender (or not), and social class. I particularly loved her take on Philippa’s snooty mother and the sarcastic humour of Philippa herself. A very good performance for a very good story. 4.5 stars.
Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
I’m not a fan of historical fiction mainly because lesbian stories based in the past normally don’t have a happy ending but I heard great things about this book (thanks, Corrie) and decided to try it.
Thomasina Wynchester is a master of disguise to help solve cases. But her new client is no other than bluestocking Miss Philippa York, a highborn lady Thomasina is secretly smitten with. Phillippa doesn’t believe in love, her parents repeatedly try to marry her to different eligible noblemen but she doesn’t develop feelings for anyone. But when the enigmatic Thomasina is assigned to solve the case of a stolen idea for a top-secret military cipher from one of Philippa’s friends, Philippa discovers that she is capable of having feelings after all.
There is a wave of new authors who are writing f/f historical romances with happy endings with the purpose of drawing attention to the fact that homosexuality has been erased from history despite that there were many cases of happy long-term relationships in the past. I’m far from being an expert in the genre but I enjoyed Olivia Waite’s books which were written with that purpose. That’s great news for readers who enjoy their happily ever afters in a historical setting.
This is book 2 in The Wlid Wynchesters series by this author which started with the m/f romance The Duke Heist. Despite there are a few references in book two to the main characters of the previous book, The Perks of Loving a Wallflower is a standalone story and there’s no need to read the m/f romance to enjoy this one.
The romance is sweet with some hot parts, both main characters are lovable even though Philippa is hard to like at the beginning. There is an aspect of gender nonconformity in Thomasina that I think the author managed well by making the character satisfied with their life choices and not willing to change for anyone’s sake. Philippa’s mother incarnates the social pressure to conform to the norm and the rigid social and class rules in the Regency period in England which sometimes feels oppressive. Philippa’s mother was an interesting, if not obnoxious, character, and my only complaint about this book is that, at the end of the book, I felt she acted out of character, her actions sounded like an easy way out of the main conflict and didn’t feel organic to the story.
This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk and I really enjoyed her performance. All her voices were distinct and reflected the character’s age, gender (or not), and social class. I particularly loved her take on Philippa’s snooty mother and the sarcastic humour of Philippa herself. A very good performance for a very good story. 4.5 stars.
Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
June 18, 2024
(edit 2024, had a bunch of likes on this review and spotted a horrible typo lmaoooo)
While I loved the idea, this was super underwhelming and disappointing. I found myself bored. The narrator didn't click for me, or elevate the material. Redundant trains of thought on-page slowed it down. On to the next...
While I loved the idea, this was super underwhelming and disappointing. I found myself bored. The narrator didn't click for me, or elevate the material. Redundant trains of thought on-page slowed it down. On to the next...
March 29, 2025
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley
The Wild Wynchesters series #2. Historical sapphic romance. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series.
Thomasina Wynchester can be anyone she wants to be. One of her recurring roles is Great Aunt Wynchester, a dowager among the ton, able to listen to conversations while being mostly invisible and inviting herself to events that may allow for finding hidden secrets. Tommy has also been disguised as a gentleman and has agreed to be the family heir to help find a stolen cipher for a book club friend. Tommy is happy to have a reason to be around Miss Philippa York as someone other than herself. Wearing a disguise helps to cover her crush on Philippa.
Philippa York doesn’t want a husband but her parents are doing everything they can to get her a title. Philippa doesn’t believe in love. She’ll accept the Baron’s help to unmask a villain because she wants the adventures the Wynchesters have. And what a delightful surprise it is when she finds out that the Baron is actually a woman!
A bit more serious than others in the series but still has quite a bit of humor. Tommy’s infatuation is clear, but I felt Philippa wanted the Wynchesters more than just Tommy.
The family does a brilliant job unmasking the villain and making things rights. Loved the book club focus of building the little libraries all over the city. I didn’t realize those had been around for so long.
A good romance. A better adventure. I still need to read book 3. Loved 4 and 5 the best.
The Wild Wynchesters series #2. Historical sapphic romance. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series.
Thomasina Wynchester can be anyone she wants to be. One of her recurring roles is Great Aunt Wynchester, a dowager among the ton, able to listen to conversations while being mostly invisible and inviting herself to events that may allow for finding hidden secrets. Tommy has also been disguised as a gentleman and has agreed to be the family heir to help find a stolen cipher for a book club friend. Tommy is happy to have a reason to be around Miss Philippa York as someone other than herself. Wearing a disguise helps to cover her crush on Philippa.
Philippa York doesn’t want a husband but her parents are doing everything they can to get her a title. Philippa doesn’t believe in love. She’ll accept the Baron’s help to unmask a villain because she wants the adventures the Wynchesters have. And what a delightful surprise it is when she finds out that the Baron is actually a woman!
A bit more serious than others in the series but still has quite a bit of humor. Tommy’s infatuation is clear, but I felt Philippa wanted the Wynchesters more than just Tommy.
The family does a brilliant job unmasking the villain and making things rights. Loved the book club focus of building the little libraries all over the city. I didn’t realize those had been around for so long.
A good romance. A better adventure. I still need to read book 3. Loved 4 and 5 the best.
June 10, 2022
Tommy Wynchester and her siblings lend their varied services to help people during their time of need. Their latest client is Philippa York, Tommy's crush, who wants her friend's hard work to be recognized after it was stolen by her friend's selfish uncle. Along the way, Tommy and Philippa solve the case and fall in love.
I really wanted to like this book since it was a sapphic historical-romance, but I was completely disappointed. First of all, there were too many characters and none of them seemed to do anything. I understand this is part of a companion series, but there were 4 or 5 Wynchester siblings and then Philippa had 5 friends who would all show up and then disappear.
The driving plot of this story was also really convoluted. Damaris' uncle used the secret code she taught him and then took credit for creating the code when it won them the war. Don't ask which war because it wasn't mentioned. Now Philippa and the Wynchesters are trying to uncover the evidence to prove his fraudulence. The evidence? A 4-part series of manuscripts with clues in them, but they're no longer in print and hard to come by.
And during this time, Tommy dresses herself as a man to spend time with Philippa and uses the disguise to enter male-only establishments with the last copies of the manuscripts. There was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it explanation that none of the Wynchester brothers could enter these establishments because one is black, thereby standing out too much and raising suspicion, and the other brother isn't elusive enough. Or something...
It was weird that Tommy specifically had to be the one to enter these establishments and then we never actually see any of the cool breaking-and-entering and detective work that this family is known for. When Tommy brings Philippa along on a mission to retrieve one of the manuscripts, they don't even do anything. They just wait for Graham Wynchester to retrieve it for them and they almost let a vagabond steal the manuscript because they were too distracted making out with one another.
And that's the extent of the great Wynchester's family's "work" in this book. Everything they do is done off-screen or done very easily. The final manuscript needed to prove Damaris' ingenuity is at her uncle's home so Philippa and Tommy go and find it during the uncle's ball. They pay off a maid to open the library for them and then they pick the lock on the lockbox holding the manuscript. That's it. It just wasn't very thrilling.
What did peak my interest was the aftermath of Philippa publicly defaming Damaris' uncle. Damaris was celebrated for her work and her uncle was disgraced, but Philippa was the one who lost face because she gained the reputation of ruining other men's reputations. It was unjust and bittersweet since Philippa did the right thing, yet she was the one being reprimanded as equally, if not more, than the uncle who committed the fraud in the first place. Philippa's prospects of marrying a British gentleman were dashed and no one wanted their child to associate with her so Philippa would be cut off from her social circle for the foreseeable future. On top of that, she and Tommy had a falling out so I really felt for her. She got what she wanted and she lost everything in the end.
Except it made me stop and think for a minute. If Damaris is the one who had her work wrongly accredited, why didn't Damaris seek out the Wynchesters? Or why was Philippa the one who had to solve the case? So essentially, why wasn't Damaris more involved and why was Philippa involved so much? I guess it was all just an excuse to have Philippa and Tommy spend time together, but it didn't make any logical sense.
Philippa and Tommy weren't even that great of a couple. They had some cute moments, but it wasn't anything too interesting. Even the sex scenes weren't as exciting as expected. However, the one fingering scene had good build-up, tension, and execution so I'll give credit where credit is due.
Even with Philippa losing everything in the end - her marriage prospects, her friends, and Tommy - everything was resolved fairly easily. It was such an easy solution to their problems that Tommy and Philippa's happy ending felt undeserved.
Also, I can't believe that there was mentions of a Sir Philip in this book after I read "To Sir Philip, With Love". And then both books received the same rating.
I didn't know where to put this but I could NOT stand how many times "bluestocking" was mentioned. I think everyone who finished this book now hates that word.
I really wanted to like this book since it was a sapphic historical-romance, but I was completely disappointed. First of all, there were too many characters and none of them seemed to do anything. I understand this is part of a companion series, but there were 4 or 5 Wynchester siblings and then Philippa had 5 friends who would all show up and then disappear.
The driving plot of this story was also really convoluted. Damaris' uncle used the secret code she taught him and then took credit for creating the code when it won them the war. Don't ask which war because it wasn't mentioned. Now Philippa and the Wynchesters are trying to uncover the evidence to prove his fraudulence. The evidence? A 4-part series of manuscripts with clues in them, but they're no longer in print and hard to come by.
And during this time, Tommy dresses herself as a man to spend time with Philippa and uses the disguise to enter male-only establishments with the last copies of the manuscripts. There was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it explanation that none of the Wynchester brothers could enter these establishments because one is black, thereby standing out too much and raising suspicion, and the other brother isn't elusive enough. Or something...
It was weird that Tommy specifically had to be the one to enter these establishments and then we never actually see any of the cool breaking-and-entering and detective work that this family is known for. When Tommy brings Philippa along on a mission to retrieve one of the manuscripts, they don't even do anything. They just wait for Graham Wynchester to retrieve it for them and they almost let a vagabond steal the manuscript because they were too distracted making out with one another.
And that's the extent of the great Wynchester's family's "work" in this book. Everything they do is done off-screen or done very easily. The final manuscript needed to prove Damaris' ingenuity is at her uncle's home so Philippa and Tommy go and find it during the uncle's ball. They pay off a maid to open the library for them and then they pick the lock on the lockbox holding the manuscript. That's it. It just wasn't very thrilling.
What did peak my interest was the aftermath of Philippa publicly defaming Damaris' uncle. Damaris was celebrated for her work and her uncle was disgraced, but Philippa was the one who lost face because she gained the reputation of ruining other men's reputations. It was unjust and bittersweet since Philippa did the right thing, yet she was the one being reprimanded as equally, if not more, than the uncle who committed the fraud in the first place. Philippa's prospects of marrying a British gentleman were dashed and no one wanted their child to associate with her so Philippa would be cut off from her social circle for the foreseeable future. On top of that, she and Tommy had a falling out so I really felt for her. She got what she wanted and she lost everything in the end.
Except it made me stop and think for a minute. If Damaris is the one who had her work wrongly accredited, why didn't Damaris seek out the Wynchesters? Or why was Philippa the one who had to solve the case? So essentially, why wasn't Damaris more involved and why was Philippa involved so much? I guess it was all just an excuse to have Philippa and Tommy spend time together, but it didn't make any logical sense.
Philippa and Tommy weren't even that great of a couple. They had some cute moments, but it wasn't anything too interesting. Even the sex scenes weren't as exciting as expected. However, the one fingering scene had good build-up, tension, and execution so I'll give credit where credit is due.
Even with Philippa losing everything in the end - her marriage prospects, her friends, and Tommy - everything was resolved fairly easily. It was such an easy solution to their problems that Tommy and Philippa's happy ending felt undeserved.
Also, I can't believe that there was mentions of a Sir Philip in this book after I read "To Sir Philip, With Love". And then both books received the same rating.
I didn't know where to put this but I could NOT stand how many times "bluestocking" was mentioned. I think everyone who finished this book now hates that word.
February 2, 2022
Absolutely amazing and an instant favorite! Brave and lovable MCs, important representation, a character-driven plot, well-balanced internal and external conflicts, feminism, great side characters, and a villain who's dastardly without being over the top.
This is what sapphic Historical Romance should be, and I desperately hope Erica Ridley writes more!
This is what sapphic Historical Romance should be, and I desperately hope Erica Ridley writes more!
May 30, 2023
3.5/5stars
I rounded up cause overall I did really like this book. The majority of what was wrong was it could have been about 150 pages shorter.
The mystery/adventure/heist??? plot felt very forced and I honestly didn't understand why half of it was happening at most points - it felt like the author had this wonderful Sapphic romance written and their editor told them they had to add more plot so this got slapped on it. I also really didn't care for the third act conflict being literally "just fucking speak to each other and this wouldn't be happening."
BUT I absolutely adored this romance. Philippa and Tommy are SO cute together and the Twelfth-Night-esque cross dressing plot was fantastic and fun. They had wonderful chemistry and the "pining from afar for a long time"/simp x innocent/oblivious/"thinks the love interest flirting is them just being funny or making fun of them or they're pretending to like them to help them for some reason" is one of my absolute favorite romance dynamics ever (looking at you, Hualian)!
I rounded up cause overall I did really like this book. The majority of what was wrong was it could have been about 150 pages shorter.
The mystery/adventure/heist??? plot felt very forced and I honestly didn't understand why half of it was happening at most points - it felt like the author had this wonderful Sapphic romance written and their editor told them they had to add more plot so this got slapped on it. I also really didn't care for the third act conflict being literally "just fucking speak to each other and this wouldn't be happening."
BUT I absolutely adored this romance. Philippa and Tommy are SO cute together and the Twelfth-Night-esque cross dressing plot was fantastic and fun. They had wonderful chemistry and the "pining from afar for a long time"/simp x innocent/oblivious/"thinks the love interest flirting is them just being funny or making fun of them or they're pretending to like them to help them for some reason" is one of my absolute favorite romance dynamics ever (looking at you, Hualian)!
April 2, 2022
4.5/5 stars
This was an absolutely wonderful wlw historical romance. I have been absolutely loving this genre recently, but this might be my new favourite. This book had the perfect balance between a fun and intriguing side plot, and a beautiful queer romance. There was a great cast of interesting and loveable characters, fantastic chemistry between Tommy and Phillipa, and was completely addictive. This was the kind of book that I couldn't even think about putting down. It was continuously exciting, loveable and unputdownable.
I absolutely adored the combination of romance, adventure and history in this book. We followed Tommy Wynchester, a non-binary person that helped her eclectic family of social outcasts on their adventures by acting as a master of disguise. Tommy could be anyone and fit into any situation, but no matter who they were at that moment, it didn't make it any easier to talk to the beautiful Bluestocking they had been crushing on for a whole year. When a chance comes for Tommy to don a disguise and help Phillipa find herself a husband to please her parents, Tommy jumps on the chance. I feel like I made this plot much more simple and tropey than it is, so just trust me on this, the book is so much more than that little description. There is an interesting literary mystery as a side-plot, a great dose of a charming group of side characters and a healthy dose of mischief.
While I enjoyed the book as a whole, I am a romance lover at heart, so of course that was my favourite part. Tommy and Phillipa had such great chemistry and a great bond that developed from friendship to something more. Their banter and sweet interactions really had me smiling like a fool, and only one step away from swooning myself. It also had a great balance between a supportive and sweet relationship, and the steamier moments between the two. It was truly amazing.
This was an absolutely wonderful wlw historical romance. I have been absolutely loving this genre recently, but this might be my new favourite. This book had the perfect balance between a fun and intriguing side plot, and a beautiful queer romance. There was a great cast of interesting and loveable characters, fantastic chemistry between Tommy and Phillipa, and was completely addictive. This was the kind of book that I couldn't even think about putting down. It was continuously exciting, loveable and unputdownable.
I absolutely adored the combination of romance, adventure and history in this book. We followed Tommy Wynchester, a non-binary person that helped her eclectic family of social outcasts on their adventures by acting as a master of disguise. Tommy could be anyone and fit into any situation, but no matter who they were at that moment, it didn't make it any easier to talk to the beautiful Bluestocking they had been crushing on for a whole year. When a chance comes for Tommy to don a disguise and help Phillipa find herself a husband to please her parents, Tommy jumps on the chance. I feel like I made this plot much more simple and tropey than it is, so just trust me on this, the book is so much more than that little description. There is an interesting literary mystery as a side-plot, a great dose of a charming group of side characters and a healthy dose of mischief.
While I enjoyed the book as a whole, I am a romance lover at heart, so of course that was my favourite part. Tommy and Phillipa had such great chemistry and a great bond that developed from friendship to something more. Their banter and sweet interactions really had me smiling like a fool, and only one step away from swooning myself. It also had a great balance between a supportive and sweet relationship, and the steamier moments between the two. It was truly amazing.
February 5, 2022
DNF. Clunky writing, dull plot, no personality heroine with the second lead character being written by a 10 year old attempting their first YA. Why can’t there be more f/f books so this one being so dreadful wouldn’t suck so bad?
Also can I even call it f/f? Wtf was with the cover??? Like I feel like it’s pretty clear Tommy is meant to be non binary (and says it outright pretty much?) and presents as a man for every scene I read …. Yikes.
Also can I even call it f/f? Wtf was with the cover??? Like I feel like it’s pretty clear Tommy is meant to be non binary (and says it outright pretty much?) and presents as a man for every scene I read …. Yikes.
August 15, 2022
I love the Wild Wynchesters, and I really appreciated the nonbinary rep in here. (This should most definitely be classified as f/nb, not f/f.)
There were a lot of quotes I marked in my copy, but one in particular I read over and over:
“You would be splendid at it. But being splendid at something does not mean a body is obliged to do it.”
There were a lot of quotes I marked in my copy, but one in particular I read over and over:
“You would be splendid at it. But being splendid at something does not mean a body is obliged to do it.”
April 4, 2023
This book is simply adorable
I loved Tommy and Philippa so much, their banter is a chef kiss, the chemistry between them is mind blowing
I may have wanted more sex scenes but what we got is amazing and definitely better than nothing or cringy scenes
The plot is amazing i loved how they talked about books a lot and the role playing? Magnificent 🔥
The side characters? delightful they made me laugh a lot 😂😂.
I may have missed a lot about the Wynchesters family not reading the previous books but they are still So precious to me, and I wish to read more about Elizabeth and Marjorie, hopefully we will get a book about each of them 🥺.
The writing is so beautiful it warmed my heart
Also Philippa mother can go fuck herself, she’s the most annoying character in the book 😒
I loved Tommy and Philippa so much, their banter is a chef kiss, the chemistry between them is mind blowing
You’re the first puzzle piece that fits. My feelings are real. I’m glad to have found them
I may have wanted more sex scenes but what we got is amazing and definitely better than nothing or cringy scenes
The plot is amazing i loved how they talked about books a lot and the role playing? Magnificent 🔥
The side characters? delightful they made me laugh a lot 😂😂.
I may have missed a lot about the Wynchesters family not reading the previous books but they are still So precious to me, and I wish to read more about Elizabeth and Marjorie, hopefully we will get a book about each of them 🥺.
The writing is so beautiful it warmed my heart
Love wasn’t one person putting the other first, but rather all parties taking care of each other.
Always. Not just when it was convenient.
Also Philippa mother can go fuck herself, she’s the most annoying character in the book 😒
August 7, 2025
3.5 Stars
Generally, a fun read . I enjoyed the back-and-forth between the main character. I enjoyed the details of the society they were living in at the time. It had feminist undercurrent. Very light angst imo. Recommended if you’re after a chill novel.
Generally, a fun read . I enjoyed the back-and-forth between the main character. I enjoyed the details of the society they were living in at the time. It had feminist undercurrent. Very light angst imo. Recommended if you’re after a chill novel.
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